No time for a flesh-and-blood book club? Try the Twitter variety
Now here鈥檚 a book club even the football-watching, X-Box-playing men in your life could get behind.
No obscure titles (you vote on the book), no last-minute cram session (read it or not, it鈥檚 up to you), no dressing up (pajamas are fine), no fussy wine and appetizers, no rarefied Lit 101 exegesis (in fact, you鈥檝e got to keep it to 140 characters).
滨迟鈥檚 , the newest Twitter book club launched by Readers around the globe, from India to Australia to Brazil, began tweeting about 1book140鈥檚 first pick, Margaret Atwood鈥檚 鈥淭he Blind Assassin,鈥� on June 1.
More than 2,000 people nominated almost 300 books for 1book140鈥檚 first selection. Atwood鈥檚 Booker prize-winning novel beat out Gary Shteyngart鈥檚 鈥淪uper Sad True Love Story鈥� and Jennifer Egan鈥檚 鈥淭he Keep.鈥�
鈥淕osh, thanks Atlantic #1book140 voters!鈥� after learning of the selection. 鈥淲ould it be cheating if I joined in? Guess so鈥︹��
The global Twitter book club was inspired by the 鈥淥ne City, One Book鈥� group read concept Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl pioneered in 1998. Professor Howe launched 鈥淥ne Book, One Twitter鈥� last summer, which drew thousands of tweets about Neil Gaiman鈥檚 鈥淎merican Gods.鈥� But, as , 鈥淭he only problem? It disappeared, like barbeques and seersucker suits, when summer came to a close. Now it鈥檚 back鈥�. It has a new name 鈥� 1book140 鈥� but what hasn鈥檛 changed is the global, participatory nature of the affair.鈥�
More than 5,000 readers have already joined the @1book140 club, with general discussions taking place under #1book140 from, and more focused exchanges of each of the novel's chapters under the dedicated hashtags #1b140_1, #1b140_2, etc.
鈥淏eing amazed by Atwood at every turn,鈥� tweeted one reader in London, . 鈥淧robably my first book written from a senior person's perspective. Never expected it to be so lovely.鈥�
Is 1book140 the beginning of more Twitter book clubs? What does that bode for books and reading?
Well, it鈥檚 certainly not the first. Among the other Twitter book clubs out there is . Launched in December 2009, it has more than 700 followers worldwide. One difference? Members meet in Dubai every month for quick discussions.
There鈥檚 also , an international book club for Twitterers where more than 6,000 followers discuss books in general, rather than specific titles.
And then there鈥檚 the . 鈥淵es, Norm has taken to Twitter to begin an ongoing discussion of literature with his nearly 4,000 followers,鈥� . 鈥淔irst up: Robert Penn Warren's 'All the King's Men.' I know, this is where I was expecting the punchline, too. But so far, at least, MacDonald seems to be playing this straight.鈥�
What does this mean for reading? Are Twitter book clubs a social media gimmick that will reduce reading and appreciating books to superficial 140-character analyses?
Certainly, Twitter book clubs like 1book140 won't plumb the depths of an author鈥檚 work or facilitate the deepest, most constructive interpretation of any literary work.
But it will get thousands of people around the globe excited about reading, sharing their unique interpretations, and interacting about one of our favorite subjects: books.
鈥淭he point isn't to perform magisterial feats of exegesis single-handed, but rather suss out new and interesting interpretations with lots of other people," 1book140 organizers said in a statement.
That, we think, can only be good.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
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